Santa Monica

Santa Monica Travel Guide

People complain about the urban sprawl of Los Angeles, but that malaise seems to magically dissipate when you visit Santa Monica. On the west side of Los Angeles, just above the heavily tattooed, offbeat scene of Venice Beach and just below the please-no-photographs exclusivity of Malibu, sits this charming beach community. You'll still have excellent odds of seeing someone famous, or at least someone who seems like they could be famous. But the walkable community also has excellent shopping, cuisine, dining, and, thanks to the amusement park on the Pier, a round-the-clock atmosphere of civilized festivity.

Things Not to Miss in Santa Monica

Read our Santa Monica travel guide to explore this pocket of SoCal perfection, including some of the most popular attractions:

• The amusement park at the Santa Monica Pier
• Shopping along Montana Avenue
• Walking the beach paths
• The Annenberg Community Beach House

When to Go to Santa Monica

Like the rest of Southern California, variations among the four seasons are minimal; you can experience a forecast of sunny and 70 degrees at any time of year. But here are some factors to consider:

• The Santa Monica travel season peaks in summer, both in terms of crowds and prices. June, however, may be an exception: the regular occurrence of fog this time of year (locals call it June Gloom) means some days can be too chilly for swimming.
• Early fall is an excellent time to travel to Santa Monica; prices drop a little, but you often have a better chance of seeing 80-degree-and-above temperatures for beach days. The only weather risk comes from the Santa Ana winds, which can be strong.
• Winter and early spring carry the highest likelihood of rain and cooler temperatures – sometimes it's downright chilly at night – but the season also has the lowest travel prices.

Articles about Santa Monica

When Matt McKinney took a 39-day road trip in 2012, he experienced one version of the American dream, just before he reached the Pacific Ocean: a flawless burger.
“It was a really big, juicy patty and a perfectly moist bun,” says the Dallas-based...

See more Best Places to Eat Like a Local
Al Soussi, Beirut, Lebanon: For more than 50 years, this pint-size kitchen in West Beirut has been serving an irresistible version of fatteh, made with layers of toasted pita, chickpeas, yogurt, and pine n...

America is finally catching up to what Angelenos have known—and happily devoured—for years. Many of today’s food trends took root in L.A.: the devotion to local, seasonal ingredients, readily available from year-round farmers’ markets. The eschewi...

“We find inspiration in the oddest places,” says Kristina O’Neal, part of AvroKO, the
design firm that rewrote the brief for great-looking restaurants with Manhattan hot spots like
Public, Stanton Social, and Double Crown. “So we spend a lot of ...

“I’m a native Los Angeles girl, from hancock park, and I fulfill all the stereotypes—except for the blond bimbo one. I live in New York, but I need a California fix every chance I get. It’s not uncommon for me to hop on a plane after I finish my s...

Hotel Casa Del Mar, once a beach club frequented by the likes of Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Mary Pickford, languished as a diet center in the 1980's. But the owners of Santa Monica's famed Shutters on the Beach stepped in with a $ million restorati...

Have you lost that old enthusiasm for the bowl of green apples on the reception desk?Tired of the sight of yet another bellman in black Chinese pajamas?Take heart. There is a small revolution under way in southern California that promises a respit...

You don't need to go far to recover after you shop till you drop. Gianfranco Ferré has welcomed E'SPA, the British spa gurus, into his recently opened Milan boutique (15 Via Sant'Andrea, Milan; 39-02/7601-7526). A discreet door leads to a parallel...